


Knit Happens: Adventures in Parenting

by wendywobbles2016



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Everlark AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 07:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendywobbles2016/pseuds/wendywobbles2016
Summary: What happens when Emma Mellark becomes worried her imaginary dinosaur is going to become extinct?? You get Katniss going all out to save the day, and finding an unlikely ally.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Katniss & Peeta's Children/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	Knit Happens: Adventures in Parenting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [endlessnightlock (Endlessnightlock)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endlessnightlock/gifts), [jroseley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jroseley/gifts).



> Ok so this little story came got it's start on tumblr and now is a birthday gift for butrfac14 and jroseley.  
> Hope you both have fabulous birthdays and eat lots of cake. 
> 
> Please enjoy my little birthday gift to you both

Katniss Everdeen, her husband Peeta Mellark, five year old Emma, three year old Killian, a 7 year old crabby cat called Buttercup, two fish –Pinky and Lemon- and one dog, DeeFor- all lived in a quiet neighbourhood in District 12. 

To be precise they lived in 74 Victory Way, a charming 4 bedroomed detached house with a large garden front and back, a state of the art home kitchen and all the usual extras you would expect in a family home – a pile of shoes by the door, LEGO and toy cars scattered here and there, dolls and teddy bears on chairs and tables, walls adorned with artwork from children and adults alike and photographs of a couple, a girl with long dark hair , silver eyes and a shy expression and the other, a boy with bright blue eyes, blond hair and huge grin in most of the photographs. 

As you walked around photographs showed a life being built, snaps of holidays, graduations, nights out with friends, weddings(theirs and others), and then the couple became three and then four. 

On this normal Saturday in October and Katniss was beginning the task of cleaning and decluttering the kitchen, Peeta had headed out for a run but when he got back he would join Katniss in the great kitchen clean up and the kids were pottering about playing. 

Winters could get bad in these parts so being prepared was a must and today they wanted to take stock of what they had, what they might need. Katniss hated waste so armed with her trusty laptop and spread sheet she began to work through the pantry and take notes 

“Mommy?” called Emma.

“Yes hun?” answered Katniss

“What does es-ex- estink mean?” queried her daughter

Katniss came out from the pantry “What sweetheart? Can you say that again?”

“What does estink mean? Hunter Hawthorne told me that in the snow and cold dinosaurs will go estink…Will Elsa go estink?” Emma asked.

Elsa was five year old Emma’s imaginary friend. 

Elsa was also a dinosaur.

Elsa arrived when Emma was three and two years later she was still here. 

Elsa liked peanut butter and cookies, Frozen and Mulan. 

She did not like broccoli and Snow White. 

Elsa also did not like being left in the car park of a supermarket; which had happened, more then once and had resulted in cars being turned around, tears being dried, Katniss and Peeta apologising to think air/Elsa and waiting for her to get into the car so they could (all) go home. 

Initially Katniss was freaked out by Elsa and worried something was wrong with their daughter, but after speaking to her mother, her mother in law, the online moms group, Peeta, half her office, half of Peeta’s office, her sister, some strangers at a bar one night during girls night she accepted imaginary friends were just part of some kids lives and so extra places were set for Elsa at the table sometimes and room was made on the sofa or in the car for her.

Katniss silently cursed Hunter, he was 10 going on 11 and very much into learning about the world and like all kids he liked to share his knowledge but sometimes he just dropped his knowledge and left, leaving parents to answer the(sometimes) difficult follow up questions.....

“Um well sweetie, years and years ago when real dinosaurs-“

“Elsa IS REAL” fumed Emma stomping her foot and glaring at her mother.

“Of course Emma, what I mean is when there were more dinosaurs then just Elsa, they roamed the earth very happily and lived lovely, long lives, eating fruit and swimming and you know doing stuff….” Katniss knew she was in trouble she knew NOTHING about the death of dinosaurs….she didn’t want to lie but at the same time how was she supposed to explain this one???

Emma stared at her mother.

“Right well, now we don’t have any dinosaurs – I mean except Elsa- so extinct means when something dies out or disappears, and there are some people that say it was caused by weather changing….like really cold, bad weather”

Peeta Mellark came through to the door just at the moment Emma opened her mouth and began to wail.

“I DON’T WANT ELSA TO DIE! MOMMY PLEASE HELP MY DINOSAUR”

*************************************

The shrieks has also got the attention of Killian who toddled out to where Peeta stood. 

“Hi Poppa” 

“Hey buddy, wanna come with me to see what the shouting is about?” 

“It’s Elsa.. always Elsa” his son told him in voice that belied his 3 years. Peeta tried not to laugh at the stern expression on Killian's face as he led the way to the kitchen. There they found a tearful Emma, a horrified looking Katniss trying to console her. 

Peeta caught Katniss eye and she shook her head. Emma became aware of her dad and brother and broke free from Katniss and ran to Peeta talking a mile a minute about snow, Elsa and not wanting Elsa to die like all the others. 

Peeta was absolutely confused so called for quiet and suggested everyone head to the living room, hop onto the sofa and calmly tell him what was going on.

Once the four of them were settled, Emma in Peeta’s knee, Killian on Katniss’, Emma launched into the story of frozen dinosaurs becoming dead and how she didn’t want that to happen to Elsa. 

“But sweetie” began Katniss “Elsa lives indoors with us, she’s gonna be fine.” She couldn’t actually believe she was saying these words, and by the look on Peeta’s face neither could he... he looked like he was desperately trying to hold in a laugh.

“But what about when we go out? To shop? To school?” Emma gazed up at her parents her blue eyes filling with tears. 

“Poppa can give Elsa a jumper!” shouted Killian (who was in truth becoming a little bit bored with all of this but he did know if you were cold you put on a jumper... at least that’s what grownups ALWAYS told him)

“No! Elsa doesn’t want daddy’s jumper.... but she does want her own” grinned Emma “She just told me. Didn’t you hear her?” 

“Em remember what we said? Sometimes grownups can’t see or hear pals like Elsa” smiled Peeta “ And I’m not sure if we can make Elsa a jumper, for that very reason. How can we measure her? What if we put the sleeves in the wrong place! Or make the hole for her head too small! And Elsa gets stuck” Peeta jumped up to demonstrate his point to his kids, flailing his arms and pulling his running shirt over his head. 

It has the desired effect and soon giggles filled the air.

“Maybe....maybe mommy you could make a blanket for Elsa?” asked Emma after considering her daddy’s point. 

Katniss couldn’t quite believe what she was about to agree to but on an ordinary Saturday in October, plans were made to knit Elsa the imaginary dinosaur a blanket before the snow arrived.

*******  
That night lying in bed, and discussing the day Peeta and Katniss laughed recalling this mornings events

“Are we doing the right thing? Indulging this?” Katniss asked Peeta

“Honestly? I don’t know, but what I do know is she’s 5 and right now if making a blanket makes her happy and can fix her problems I’ll happily do it, let’s face it there will come a time when we can’t easily fix her problems” he smiled sadly. 

“I know, and since she’s started school Elsa hasn’t been around so much so I was a bit taken aback when she asked me what extinct meant, but the evening helping you design the blanket she did seem happier and even I should be able to give her exactly what she wants. How hard cab it be to make a multi-coloured knitted square blanket. We have plenty of time before the snow comes in. I’ll take her into town tomorrow and we’ll get some wool in the craft store.”

“Good idea, but I better warn you Killian was rounding up his dinosaurs this evening, I think you may end up making his plastic pals a collection of jumpers and blankets too” laughed Peeta. 

“Ah the never ending adventures of parenthood” sighed Katniss and with a kiss Peeta turned off the bedside lamp and pulled his wife close where they both slowly drifted off to sleep with visions of jumper wearing dinosaurs invading their dreams. 

******  
Peeta was right, the next morning over breakfast Killian announced that his dino buddies also required protecting from the cold. He had assembled the ones he deemed most in need and presented them to his parents. In total he had 8 creatures of various sizes. 

After much debate he agreed that as with Elsa jumpers might not be the best choice and instead scarves and sleeping bags made from Peeta’s odd socks would work a treat. Katniss would knit the scarves while Peeta, Killian and Emma would make and decorate the socks/sleeping bags. 

The largest one Mr Roary wouldn’t fit in a sock so Katniss agreed to knit him his own special blanket. 

And so the Everdeen Mellark’s got ready to head to town armed with a list and drawing of the blanket for Elsa. 

Emma took Katniss hand and the two of them headed to the craft store. Killian and Peeta were going to the market to pick up some of the items they were low on. After they got done head over at Peeta’s parents place and they would meet Katniss and Emma there.

Pushing open the door Katniss looked to see if Effie, the owner of the craft shop was around, they didn’t see her but sitting at the counter was Effie’s husband Haymitch. He was a longtime family friend of the Everdeen and Mellarks

“Morning Haymitch, is, Effie around?” asked Katniss.

“Nope” replied Haymitch “she’s had to go up of visit family in Four, so yours truly is minding the shop. What do you and half pint want?”

Emma giggled and answered Haymitch before Katniss. “Wool. We need lots of wool for to make a blanket for Elsa and Killian’s dinosaurs too. See? I have a picture of Elsa’s” and she held the drawing up for him to look at

Haymitch’s mouth twitched but he came out from behind the counter and asked Emma if he could see her design.

“You draw this yourself? You have some real talent Em. Who’s Elsa? She your school friend?”

“No, she’s my dinosaur.”

“Ah ok…I see. Is she one of those green ones? When I was your age I had a pal called Fred, he was green” mused Haymitch.

Katniss stared at Haymitch.

“What?” he snapped “I was young once too you know”

“No. Elsa is purple with pink spines an’a tuft of green hair. She has a long neck and four legs but they aren’t long and she has yellow and orange toenails. What does Fred look like?” she asked Haymitch(she had never met anyone else that had a dinosaur so this made Haymitch infinitely more interesting)

“Short, kinda fat with green and then yellow spikes and two purple horns, man I loved that guy, so why does Elsa need a blanket?”

Emma quickly filled him in, and added that Killian’s dinos also needed scarves and sleeping bags and blankets and mommy and daddy were going to make them.

“Come on let’s get you set up with wool, needles and a simple pattern. Emma you take this basket and put the wool you need in here while I help your mom get a pattern and needles” he handed Emma a basket and set her loose.

“Well, that is great but Katniss you better get cracking, the first snow is due in about two weeks” said Haymitch

“Shit? Really I thought I’d –we’d have more time. I have two blankets and seven scarves to make and I can’t knit for shit” wailed Katniss.

“I’m gonna make you an offer- you tell anyone about this and deals off though-I can knit. Learnt when I was kid, pretty good at it in fact. Let me make the scarves and smaller blanket while you work on Emma’s. If you make the squares, I’ll help you assemble the pieces and if you don’t mind, I’ll knit an image of this Elsa character for Emma, we can sew it on.”

Katniss was flabbergasted ”Wait? You knit”

“Yup, see all these knitted items we sell in-store and online? Mostly my handiwork. It’s how I met Effie.” He shrugged, “so what do you say? Deal?”

“Yes! But why if you don’t mind me asking you must get hundreds of clueless crafters in here each week and I doubt you’re offering them all help, why me? Not that I am not grateful” 

“I like dinosaurs, besides who knows maybe this Elsa knows my old pal Fred. I doubt he would like to hear that I didn’t help a fellow dinosaur when asked.” And with that he shrugged and walked over to Emma to help her finish up grabbing her wool.

******  
From that day Katniss spent every spare moment knitting squares, pink ones, purple ones, white, blue and rainbow coloured ones too. Each day the pile of squares grew. 

Peeta watched her knitting and asked her to show him. He knitted squares, some were misshapen where he had picked up extra stitches but Katniss insisted they keep them and added them to the pile. 

Word in the immediate Evedeen and Mellark families spread and those that knew how to knit made some squares, those that didn’t’ with Emma’s help picked out and bought some wool for the blanket. 

Everyone could feel the weather changing and Mr Everdeen mused on Wednesday evening that the snow would likely hit on Sunday. Katniss rang Haymitch and he told her to bring in the squares and they would put them together on Saturday.

Katniss was amazed by Haymitch and the beautiful scarves he had produced for a bunch of kids toys, He wasn’t kidding when he said he could knit.

The blanket for Mr Roary was also a patchwork of knitted squares, so when he was assembling he included some of Katniss and Peeta’s handy work.

Elsa’s blanket was much larger so Haymitch set Katniss to work laying out the pieces,he moved and adjusted until finally he was happy with how the colors looked. He started at one end, Katniss the other and they sewed and stitched each piece together. Haymitch finished the blanket by adding the Elsa he had knitted. 

When it was finished Katniss thanked and hugged Haymitch. Through slight tears she told him that in a million lifetimes she would never be able to make this up to him. Haymitch just rolled his eyes, but deep down he was touched.

*****  
“I’m home” she called as she came through the door laden down with goodies. 

“Hi Mommy!” called her children 

Peeta came from the kitchen and kissed his wife “All good?”

“Yup, Will we give them their Dino Survival kits now?” she asked Peeta. 

He nodded and laughed and the excited gleam in his wife’s eyes and she was practically bouncing she was so giddy. They went into the living room and handed out the woollen gifts

When Emma laid eyes on the blanket she was so pleased. She hugged her parents and showed Elsa this new present that would stop her from going extinct. 

Killian said thanks but quickly returned to playing with DeeFor.(three year olds, eh?)

“So does Elsa like her blanket?” asked Peeta.

“Oh yes! Very much so, especially the picture of her down here. She said that because mommy did such a good job she won’t eat any more of her lipsticks” and with that Emma sauntered off.

Katniss and Peeta stood smiling at her until Katniss realized what Emma had just said 

“Emma! What lipstick? Emma Mellark come back here!” and she took off down the hallway to find out what exactly Emma/Elsa had been up too. 

“Ah the never ending adventures of parenthood” sighed Peeta and he headed back to the kitchen to fix dinner. 

The End : )


End file.
